Insecurity: Osun OPC leader asks government to adopt traditional methods in tackling banditry, kidnapping

By Richard Akintade, Osogbo

The Osun State Leader of Dr Friedrick Fasheun- led Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Alhaji Leke Akintayo, popularly known as Olojongbodu, has condemned the spate of killings, kidnappings and other forms of insecurity bedeviling the country.

Olojongbodu attributed the socio-economy especially the problem of insecurity to leadership failure.

He made these known while fielding questions from journalists, on Tuesday, in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

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Expressing worries over the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians, the Osun OPC Coordinator, said traditional powers, known in local parlance as “African Juju”, had the potency of ending the current spate of kidnappings and other crimes in the country.

He said it would be wrong and erroneous for the people to abandon their belief in such alternative means of curbing crimes.

According to him, optimal use of African traditional powers would help in checking the activities of bandits, especially wanton killings and kidnappings “which now occur almost on a daily basis in many parts of the country.”

While assuring the people of the country on the readiness of OPC and other local security groups to support the government in their bid to stamp out crimes, he noted that they needed the support of the government in terms of logistics and others.

“We are reading to work in collaboration with the police and other security agencies. We have been doing it but government needs to strengthen their support. We need logistics.

“We need money to procure all the necessary gadgets, like motorcycles for easiest movement to all the nooks and crannies of the state.

“Governor Gboyega Oyetola has been doing well. He’s trying his best to ensure that the state remains peaceful and habitable for the people but, we are expecting him to do more.

“I want to use this opportunity to commend the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Wale Olokode. He has been forthcoming in terms of quick response whenever there is an issue of security.

“When he came around, the first thing he did was to summon all the local security groups into a meeting. He sought our support and ever since then we are have been working together. When the incident of kidnapping happened in Obokun local government, he invited and we ensure the abducted victims were rescued.

“There is unity among all the groups. We are working together. We are ensuring there is cordial relationship between the OPC, Gani Adams led OPC, Agbekoya, Vigilante groups among others since we are all working for the same goals of safeguarding the Yoruba populace,” he said.

Speaking on whether they were ready to work with Amotekun, Olojongbodu said though, they had not been invited officially but, they had some of their men who had shown interest in working with the security network.

He charged Nigerian youths to desist from anything capable of tarnishing the image of their family, saying they should also be “mindful of who they keep as peers.”